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Carver delighted for match-winner Cisse

Assistant boss John Carver was thrilled after Papiss Cisse ended his drought to give Newcastle United a last-gasp win over Crystal Palace.

Published

22 March 2014

Cisse struck with a header in the fourth minute of added time at St James' Park on Saturday to give the hosts a 1-0 victory - just his second Premier League goal of the season and first in any competition since early January.

Senegal striker Cisse had been denied on a number of occasions by a string of excellent saves from Palace goalkeeper Julian Speroni.

The 28-year-old looked to have spurned his final opportunity late on when he missed an open goal after Cheick Tiote had rattled the crossbar with a thunderous strike from range.

But Cisse redeemed himself at the death, sealing victory for Newcastle with a fine header from substitute Hatem Ben Arfa's cross.

And assistant manager Carver, in charge in place of suspended boss Alan Pardew, was happy to see the former Freiburg man get his reward.

"As long as we've got time on the clock, we believe we can score right up until the last minute, because we've done it on a number of occasions," Carver said.

"He (Cisse) took probably his hardest chance as it came quickly and he's guided it past the goalkeeper.

"Last week (in 1-0 loss to Fulham) we didn't create a great deal, but the two chances actually fell to Papiss and I said after the game last week how hard he does work on the training ground to put that right and he certainly did that today.

"He's not going missing, he's not hiding and sometimes you can when you're lacking in confidence.

"I don't think he's lacking in confidence, I think he's just lacking in a little bit of luck, and he might have just had that little bit of luck at the end today because he popped up in the right area and had the composure to guide it in.

"There's nobody more pleased for him than myself, the rest of the staff, because he's a great guy to have around the place.